A presentation on the benefits of mindfulness for Judges at the Orlando, 2016. As important as the medical, psychological and stress reducing aspect of mindfulness are, the ability to pay sustained, nonjudgmental attention in the courtroom - without the distortion of habit, bias, or assumptions - may lead a judge to treat people and manage a courtroom in a manner that encourages confidence in our system of justice.

2. MINDFULNESS
What it is, what it isn’t, why it is becoming so popular and what it
can do for you
Gus Castellanos, M.D.
retired Neurologist and Sleep Specialist
MBSR and Mindfulness Based Interventions teacher
Judge Carroll Kelly
Administrative Judge, Domestic Violence Division

4. Mindfulness - IT WORKS!
Fortune 500 Companies, schools (Kindergarten-grad
school), alcohol/drug addiction treatment programs,
professional sports teams, prisons, business and
government leaders, Military, & over 750 medical centers
confirm “It Works”

5. Mindfulness – HOW IT WORKS
“How It Works” - Mindfulness strengthens core capacities of
focusing, mind wandering and working memory – by choosing
an object to attend to, noticing when the mind wanders, and
remembering to come back to the object!
Individuals regularly practicing mindfulness experience:
• Increased clarity and creative thinking
• Reduced stress
• Improved complex problem-solving and decision-making
• Enriched emotional intelligence and improved mood regulation
• Enhanced self-awareness of the mind-body connection
• Improved immune, hormonal and nervous system management of a wide range of physical
concerns

6. Mindfulness – YOU HAVE TO WORK IT!
NEUROPLASTICITY
• As the mind changes, the brain changes the mind…for better or worse!
• Research and brain MRI scans show there is a direct
correlation between amount of practice and
improvement in these skills & trait development.
• Sometimes called “brain fitness’
Rick Hanson, PhD: “train the mind to change the brain to change the mind for the benefit of
oneself and others”

7. Mindfulness Defined
• Jon Kabat Zinn: “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the
present moment, and nonjudgmentally”
• M.B.A.T.: “a mental mode characterized by attention to present moment
experience without conceptual elaboration or emotional reactivity”
• Greater Good (UC Berkley): “maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness
of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.”
• Ellen Langer: “an active search for novel distinctions in the present moment”
 ACCEPTANCE – paying attention to thoughts and feelings without
judging them
 NON-STRIVING - there is no right or wrong way to think or feel or any
particular state to achieve
whatever I avoid experiencing will govern my experiences!

9. Mindfulness
INTENTION – the Why
ATTENTION – the What
ATTITUDE – the How

10. Benefits of Mindfulness
Mindfulness practices “creates space” for healthier & wise responses,
rather than mindless, habitual reactions ~ and by its effects on the
brain, nervous, immune, and hormonal systems, it can:
 Improve clarity
 Improve focus, attention & memory
 Reduce stress, anxiety & rumination
 Enhance emotional regulation
 Enhance creativity and productivity
 Enhance resiliency, balance, energy and zest for living.
 Strengthen relationships by promoting compassion, empathy and
attunement
 Improve immunity and disease fighting capacities
 May prolong life expectancy

11. Mindfulness Publications

12. Mindfulness for Depression

14. Brain Changes with Mindfulness
(Neuroplasticity)

16. Mindfulness affects the brain
• University of Washington (J.A.M.A. March 22/29, 2016) showed
MBSR was more effective than ‘usual care’ in chronic low back pain
(61% vs 44% improvement in disability and 44% vs 27%
improvement in pain). The article did not explain why this is
so, given that only 51% of the MBSR group attended at least 6 of
the 8 sessions and only 27% attended the All Day retreat.
• Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (Journal of Neuroscience Nov.
11, 2015) using fMRI brain scanning in normal volunteers showed
that mindfulness reduces pain differently than placebo and
relaxation techniques.
• The results supported that mindfulness based pain relief engages
parts of the brain involved in multiple mechanisms associated with cognitive
control, emotion regulation, and reducing the activation of low-level sensory
processes, and not the areas where placebo effect & relaxation response

18. The Stress Response
Fight Flight Freeze
Perceived threat  amygdala + hippocampus(memory)  Hypothalamus 
Pituitary gland  Adrenal glands - secrete adrenaline (epinephrine), noradrenaline
(norepinephrine), cortisol in an effort to create a boost of energy:
• Acceleration of heart and lung action
• Paling or flushing, or alternating between both
• Inhibition of stomach and upper-intestinal action to the point where digestion slows down or stops
• General effect on the sphincters of the body
• Constriction of blood vessels in many parts of the body and dilation of blood vessels for muscles
• Liberation of metabolic energy sources (particularly fat and glycogen) for muscular action
• Inhibition of the lacrimal gland (responsible for tear production) and salivation
• Dilation of pupil (mydriasis)
• Relaxation of bladder, Inhibition of erection
• Auditory exclusion (loss of hearing) & Tunnel vision (loss of peripheral vision)
• Shaking, tremors

19. Effects of prolonged stress
Physiological effects
• Headaches, Muscle tension and pain, chest pain, Fatigue, back pain
• Upset stomach, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers
• Asthma, Arrhythmias, high blood pressure, increase risks of heart attack &
strokes
• Changes in sex drive, Urinary problems,
• Impair developmental growth in children
• Delayed wound healing, accumulation of visceral fat, chronic suppression of
the immune system, infections, ?cancer
Psychological effects
• Anxiety & Restlessness
• Problems with sleeping
• Lack of motivation or focus
• Irritability or anger
• Depression
• Trouble in storing new memories
Behavioral effects
• Overeating or under
eating
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Social withdrawal;
emotional or physical
abuse of others
• Denying, suppressing,
repressing by
“overdoing healthy”
activities
• other maladaptive
behaviors

20. Stress and Performance

21. Pain and Suffering
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not
due to the pain itself, but your estimate of it.” Marcus
Aurelius
• Pain is the matter of fact description and
experience of an unpleasant event.
• Suffering is independent from pain. We do not
suffer because of pain - we are uncomfortable
because of pain.
• We suffer because we resist the pain.
• Resistance is the subtle, or not so subtle way we
push away the pain in order to reduce the
uncomfortable feeling. We want the moment to be
different than it is, that is, an attempt to resist
reality!
• With mindfulness, we can acknowledge the
unpleasant experience as doing so frees us to be
more effective at relating to the discomfort and
moment in a wiser and compassionate manner.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. And
in that space is our power to choose our response. In our
response lies our growth and freedom.” Victor Frankl
• In general, when an unpleasant experience arises,
we react or over-react to feel better (less
uncomfortable).
• Reacting usually occurs when we are not paying
attention, are lost in a story or drama, or agitated
by emotions, feelings or sensations.
• Reactions can serve the short term, but
ultimately can prove costly.
• Responding follows from clearly seeing what is
at play in the present moment, accepting the
uncomfortable, instead of resisting it. Doing so
can serve our long term interest and results in
decisions with better, healthier results.

22. Stress Reactivity
• The term “stress”, as it is currently used was coined
by Hans Selye in 1936, who defined it as “the non-
specific response of the body to any demand for change”
• R.S. Lazarus (1966): ‘Stress arises when individuals
perceive that they cannot adequately cope with the demands
being made on them or with threats to their well-being.’
• Lazarus and Folkman (1984): stress is ‘a pattern of
negative physiological states and psychological responses
occurring in situations where individuals perceive threats to
their well-being, which they may be unable to meet.’
• Kelly McGonigal (2013): “stress as being what arises
when something we care about is at stake” (what arises =
our thoughts, our emotions, our desires, our
motivation, and our body’s response to the stress,
which makes stress a resource that is useful)
Adaptive
• Fight
• Flight
• Freeze
• tend & beFriend
Maladaptive
• Get ‘F*ck up’
• Fornication
• Fix

23. Mindfulness and Stress
Stress increases mind wandering = more ‘off task’ thoughts - which degrades working memory &
attention…making it difficult to perform current task…leading to negative mood, rumination and distress.
Under stress ethical codes of behavior degrade.
Mindfulness training:
 enhances ability to see clearly, identify emotions, regulate them as needed, and reduces
emotional reactivity;
 strengthens the core capacity to focus, improves working memory and reduces mind
wandering – choosing an object to attend to, noticing the wandering mind,
remembering to come back;
 decreases the conceptual sense of self and use of language - shifting from conceptual
self too experiential self (from ‘default mode network’ to non-self referential
network)
 reduced rumination and anxiety, promotes resilience
 Mindfulness reduces telomere shortening
 Improves immune system, calms Nervous System, changes the brain structure – with
practice!

27. Uncertainty is the Name of the Game
“How we open or close to the reality that we never arrive at safe
enduring stasis is the matter, the raw material, of wisdom." Krista Tippett
• Uncertainty causes us to feel
uncomfortable and the mental and
physical toll comes mostly from
resisting the uncertainty.
• Worry, fear, anxiety of what may
happen, that is these are future
oriented, not from the present
moment experience.
• We tend to push away/resist/deny
the unpleasant, grasp/cling to the
pleasant, and distract from the
boring
• Being comfortable with
uncertainty takes courage.
• Open and curiosity are two
mindfulness traits, and these are
cultivated through the open
awareness practice.
• The willingness to embrace
paradox is a measure of courage
and open-mindedness.
• Courage is realizing that it’s all
uncertain - and this realization
and deep understanding which can
be fostered through mindfulness
practice, readies one to move
forward confidently into the
moments of our lives – come what
may!

30. Mindfulness Benefits
• It Boosts Your HEALTH
• 1 – Increases immune function
• 2 – Decreases Pain
• 3 – Decreases Inflammation at the Cellular Level
• It Boosts Your HAPPINESS
• 4 – Increases Positive Emotion
• 5 – Decreases Depression
• 6 – Decreases Anxiety
• 7 – Decreases Stress
• It Boosts Your SOCIAL LIFE
• 8 – Increases social connection & emotional
intelligence
• 9 – Makes you more compassionate
• 10 – Makes you feel less lonely
• It Boosts Your Self-Control
• 11 – Improves your ability to regulate your emotions
• 12 – Improves your ability to introspect
• It Changes Your BRAIN (for the better)
• 13 – Increases grey matter
• 14 – Increases volume in areas related to emotion
regulation, positive emotions & self-control
• 15 – Increases cortical thickness in areas related to paying
attention
• It Improves Your Productivity (yup, by doing
nothing)
• 16 – Increases your focus & attention
• 17 – Improves your ability to multitask
• 18 – Improves your memory
• 19 – Improves your ability to be creative & think outside
the box
• 20. It Makes You WISE(R)